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View Full Version : M1 Carbine shot first boolits today.



MikeSSS
12-14-2006, 02:31 AM
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l57/MikeSSS_01/DSC01505.jpg

I went to shoot today. The target was shot offhand at 42 yards (probably 44 yds).

FMJ was Aguila 110 gr FMJ. Like at 100 yds, it was disappointing.

Cast bullets were from a Lee .309" 120 gr Round Nose mold, water quenched, gas checked, sized to .309", lubed with Lee Liquid Alox and loaded in Aguila cases with 9.0 gr of Alliant 2400. The cases were sized with a Lee Full Length die backed off two turns. The cases were belled with a Lee Universal Case Expanding Die, just a bit. The Lee seater seated them and did a tiny crimp onto the last driving band.

The cast bullets did a lot better. They were hell on the 2 ltr Pepsi bottles at 42 yards and 12 ga Shotgun Hulls at 20 yards. Most of the 12 ga hulls died with 'chest shots'. Ditto for the Pepsi bottles.

The best four, offhand at 42 yards, are getting into M1 Garand territory and are worrying the 03 A3! That's significant because the big rifles weigh more, are longer, have longer sight radius and have better trigger pulls.

One more thing, the Cast Bullet loads and the FMJ's shoot the same elevation setting in the Carbine. The Garand and 03A3 need a lot of elevation for the cast bullets because they rotate a lot less before the cast bullets leave the barrel compared to FMJ.

9.0 gr of 2400 leaves the cases in the chamber or ejects them or half ejects them so they get dinged at the mouth. When they eject the bolt does not go back far enough to pick up a new round. I could back off the charge so the cases don't eject but they get thrown on the ground anyway when I cycle the bolt, so I might increase the charge until the little rifle cycles. Accuracy will be the deciding factor.

The Lee two hole mold casts nice boolits but the Hornady gas checks snap on easy sometimes, other times they have to be pounded on. The two holer speeds up the casting but putting on the gas checks is the real time user. Feel free to jump in with suggestions here!

Aguila brass is 0.351.5" at the base, WW brass is more like .354.0" at the base. The Aguila brass is bulging out to .357.0" ahead of the webb. I don't like that much because repeated resizing will shorten the brass life. Aguila ammo is $10.50/50 at the gunshow, WW or Rem brass probably costs more than this, so I guess I shouldn't complain, but I still do. (Note the new math, it has two decimals per number. For some reason this makes sense to me because I think in thousandths.)

I cast another 93 tonight ( a trick with a two hole mold) and got 91 keepers. Pretty good, huh?

Well, that's my story and I'm stick'in to it.

NickSS
12-14-2006, 04:02 AM
If you want to skip the gas check try the lyman 311*** (I forget the number) 130 gr semipointed plain base bullet. I used thousands of them in my M1 carbine over the years loaded with H110 so that they would eject just fine. I used 50-50 alox and beeswax and sized them to .310" never had any leading problems and they shot into 3 to 4 inch groups at 100 yards. I had a 4 cavity mold but sold it and my M1 carbine when the priced went crazy on them.

trooperdan
12-14-2006, 11:34 AM
Nick, I think the boolit you are describing is the 311410.

MikeSSS
12-14-2006, 12:25 PM
Lyman 311410, Midway has em. Avoiding the hassle and especially the time of using gas checks sure would be nice. Saving $25 per 1,000 rounds, about 1/3 of the cost, is very nice too.

Great tip. This sure will help a lot.

This is a wonderful site. We can draw on the experience of lots of smart people, so we don't have to reinvent the wheel constantly.

"Experience is knowledge" Thus spake Einstein, and he was a real smart guy.

Thanks again, I'll order with glee, soon.

Mike S

mooman76
12-14-2006, 01:28 PM
I've heard lots of good things on this Lyman 311410. I have a single cavity given to me by a friend because it was xtra and would like to get a double cavity some day. Same friend of mine uses it in allot of applications where it works great for him. He uses it in the M1c and says it is great in the 7.62x39 round and others too!

versifier
12-14-2006, 02:50 PM
Mike,
You're not going to get very long case life with the Aguila brass anyway. All of it I find just goes into the recycle bucket. If you go for decent brass, it will last more than long enough to pay for itself. If you are very careful not to work the necks too much, 30 loadings in a low pressure round like the .30carb is not unusual. The biggest problem is finding the little suckers in the grass. [smilie=1: I have a small bag of good once fired range brass you can have for postage. PM me if you are interested.

Newtire
12-19-2006, 12:46 AM
Hi Mike and all who shoot the fun litle carbine.

Just got out of the garage where I loaded up some carbine loads that I hope will be winners. I used the RCBS 32-98 seated at 1.625" with a pretty stiff load of Win 296. I am going to try a batch of this & that until I get something that ejects and is fairly accurate. The little Lee 120 gr. & 130 gr. round nosers are about the best so far but they are both gas-checked designs too. I size all mine .309" vs the .310-.311 sizing I use in my other .30 cal guns. That seems to work the best for me.

This RCBS 32-98 feeds great in my stubborn carbine (a Plainfield M-1 civilian/military fashion-not like a Universal). Seems the Universals feed boolits like the Lee soupcan where mine won't. I had real good luck with 8.5-9.0gr. BlueDot and the Lee 120 gr. (125 gr for me) so will try a load with the 9.0 gr. I'll let you guys know. If the speed isn't too much for the plainbase, then this should be the boolit with it's flat nose and all.